Guyana, Belize football game to be played at Leonora

- Efforts to secure National Stadium futile

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) on Wednesday afternoon announced that the Concacaf Nations League final qualifier match involving Guyana and Belize will be held at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora, on Saturday March 23 from 18:30h.

The match will see Guyana playing one of the most critical matches in its football history, which can enable the country a chance to qualify for the Concacaf Gold Cup for the first time.

In an invited comment, GFF’s Competitions Director, Ian Alves, said efforts were made to utilise the National Stadium, Providence.

“Due to the significance of the match, serious efforts were made to have the use of the National Stadium, Providence. However, these did not find the kind of favour that the Federation was hoping for and, as a result, we will host at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora. Notwithstanding, we are still encouraging the Guyanese public to come to Leonora in support of the Golden Jaguars. Special transportation arrangements will be put in place, the details of which will be shared with the media in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, the Senior Men’s National Team, known as the Golden Jaguars, continued their preparation for the match with a training fixture against a select team from the Upper Demerara Football Association.

According to Assistant Coach Charles Pollard, it was another successful outing for the team: “I’m happy with the performance of the team but there is still room for improvement. We need to continue to work and we need more repetitions that will get us better. We have the next three weeks and I’m confident the players will come up to speed by then. We were generally good tactically but we need to be consistent. Tactical discipline is a big factor in the game.”

That training match was held on Monday last (February 25) at the GFF National Training Centre, Providence. The third training match is scheduled against the West Demerara Football Federation at a date to be announced.

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